dreadful

Definition

Full of something causing dread, whether

Etymology

From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread + -ful.

Example Sentences

• ""...Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning...""
• "Here some... Look dreadful gay in their own sparkling blood."
• "[I]ndeed I began ſincerely to hate my ſelf for a Dog, a VVretch that had been a Thief, and a Murtherer; […] I vvent about vvith my Heart full of theſe Thoughts, little better than a diſtracted Fellovv; in ſhort, running headlong into the dreadfulleſt Deſpair, and premeditated nothing but hovv to rid my ſelf out of the VVorld; […] nothing lay upon my Mind for ſeveral Days, but to ſhoot my ſelf into the Head vvith my Piſtol."